The best advice/trick I ever learned about topwaters was to not start your retrieve right away.
Cast the lure out and let it sit where it lands for a good 15-30 seconds before you start your retrieve.
Often just the splash of your lure will attract fish and trigger them to strike it where it landed.
I've also heard that its best to vary your retrieve speed and pattern.
Cast the lure out and let it sit where it lands for a good 15-30 seconds before you start your retrieve.
Often just the splash of your lure will attract fish and trigger them to strike it where it landed.
I've also heard that its best to vary your retrieve speed and pattern.
I just got a new Jitter Bug and would like to know what's the best way to retrieve this, I have been using a Hoopa Popper for my top water fishing an have some good hits . I would start with a pause when it hit the water then pop,pop,pop,pause and repeat until I cast again and repeat.
inkslinger, the Jitterbug is one of my all time favorite bass lures, especially in the late evening and after dark. If you've been having results with a popper, your well on your way to Jitterbug success, as the concept of plup-plup splish-splish pause... is basically the same. Jitterbugs have some different kinds of motions that you can get going, though. Most notably is the steady retrieve at just the right speed that gives you a bloop-bloop-bloop-bloop-bloop-bloop... sound (I love to listen to that sound in pitch darkness and then suddenly--SPLASH!). Sometimes a steady retrieve with that sound with fewer pauses gets them going. Also, if you yank a Jitterbug just right, you can get a quick, side-to-side splish-splash-splish-splash kind of thing going, which calls for a good long pause, and then maybe some more bloop-bloop retrieve...
I'm not sure if those descriptions make much sense, but hopefully that helps some. The Jitterbug is a fantastic lure. Try it in the dark.
I'm not sure if those descriptions make much sense, but hopefully that helps some. The Jitterbug is a fantastic lure. Try it in the dark.
check out the videos produced by Rapala on youtube. They're fantastic for learning technique and tips on using different types of topwater lures in different situations. I learned a lot from watching them. They're Rapala specific, but they'll work nonetheless on any type of shallow runner, floating minnow, popper, etc. Good luck.
My findings would be that you should not retrieve right away (like others had said) and you should make the lure look realistic in the way that it looks like an injured baitfish. Also, don't retrieve too fast, it scares fish and it may also be too fast for fish to bite at. 
at this time of year, real early in the morning or late evening night are best for topwater. I've heard and learned that topwater in August during the day is difficult. The fish are lazy right now and having to come up to bite/eat is a little too much. Try lures or plastics that get down where the fish are if you're fishing daytime. Good luck.
at this time of year, real early in the morning or late evening night are best for topwater. I've heard and learned that topwater in August during the day is difficult. The fish are lazy right now and having to come up to bite/eat is a little too much. Try lures or plastics that get down where the fish are if you're fishing daytime. Good luck.
I know this thread is kinda old, but there's a tip that I didn't see anyone else mention...
don't set the hook at the splash - wait until you feel the fish, then pop him!
I know it's wicked hard to NOT jerk at the hit, as that's what we're conditioned to do, and we're concentrating on that retrieve like laserbeam, but in fishing topwaters, that's often why one will miss alot fish.
...just a slight pause in the hookset will increase one's topwater hit-to-hook up ratio.
**EDIT - I just saw a video with Lonnie Stanley of Stanley Lures, trying out the new Stanley Ribbit Frog and he said he keeps his rod tip up at 11 o'clock so he CAN'T set the hook, forcing himself to have to lower the rod, then set the hook - which gives him that slight pause I was talking about.
Last edited by tony93 on Mon Feb 22, 2010 11:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
don't set the hook at the splash - wait until you feel the fish, then pop him!
I know it's wicked hard to NOT jerk at the hit, as that's what we're conditioned to do, and we're concentrating on that retrieve like laserbeam, but in fishing topwaters, that's often why one will miss alot fish.
...just a slight pause in the hookset will increase one's topwater hit-to-hook up ratio.
**EDIT - I just saw a video with Lonnie Stanley of Stanley Lures, trying out the new Stanley Ribbit Frog and he said he keeps his rod tip up at 11 o'clock so he CAN'T set the hook, forcing himself to have to lower the rod, then set the hook - which gives him that slight pause I was talking about.
Last edited by tony93 on Mon Feb 22, 2010 11:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
I love fishing topwater but I'm sort of new to fishing and looking for any tips I can get.
My absolute favorite thing to do is throw a soft plastic frog on a 5/0 hook, with the point coming all the way through the plastic and skin hooked in the top. This way I can have a very weedless lure that I can throw anywhere, and still get a great hookset. i find that this is most effective when the sun is at its highest point and when the scum/weeds/pads are thick. i use a Z-Man frog or stanely ribbit in dark colors. These both have water churning legs and are great in open water too. fish them on a strong rod, yet make sure you have some tip to really fling them out there. a baitcasting reel with a 6.3 or faster gear ratio is better so that you can burn them over the pads and also keep the bait on top in open water. And a word to the wise, try not to set the hook right away, because they are coming through alot of stuff to hit the lure so if the first time they dont engulf it , keep reeling in, they will hit it again! wait till you feel the weight of the fish and then set the hook and get them coming your way in a hurry, cause if you let them, they are going to bury you in seconds. one more warning, be careful, this is very addicting.
MIKE H
Last edited by michaelharris88 on Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:43 pm; edited 2 times in total
top water poppers work good i usually give it 2 pops and if you do it right i will sounds like bloop bloop pause and then again and so on. works best in may and june i have best luck around dinner time 4to7 if it works once most likely you'll get busy.nothing like a top water hit!!!!!very fun when its working try for about 20min if nothin is happening switch to something else